Fdle Announces Arrests

DIGEST

August 15, 1997|Staff reports

With the arrest of a fugitive on Thursday in Wellington, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has all 13 suspects in custody from a home-invasion ring whose members robbed residents in Palm Beach and Broward counties.

The violent ring gained access into at least seven homes between October 1992 and November 1993 by posing as police officers and then binding their victims with duct tape.

Anthony Mazzamuto, 34, of West Palm Beach, had been on the run for seven months before FDLE agents caught up with him on Thursday. An anonymous Crime Stoppers tip led police to where Mazzamuto's workplace in Wellington. FDLE agents set up a meeting with him Thursday in the Wellington Regional Medical Center parking lot, FDLE Special Agent Don Condon said.

``He thought he was going to collect a paycheck,'' Condon said.

Mazzamuto, who had been working in Nebraska for the past seven months, ran when he learned the real purpose of the meeting.

He dashed across Forest Hill Boulevard and into a canal, Condon said.

After swimming across the canal, Mazzamuto decided to give up when agents on the opposite canal bank talked him into it, Condon said.

Mazzamuto was charged with armed burglary with a firearm, armed robbery and attempted armed robbery.

He was taken to the Palm Beach County Jail, where he was being held without bail on Thursday night.